


The Agent & the Analyst, Part 1

by dugindeep (hotsauce)



Series: bodyguard [1]
Category: CW Network RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-25
Updated: 2012-09-25
Packaged: 2017-11-15 01:25:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/521614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotsauce/pseuds/dugindeep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen is a surly government analyst and Jared is the bodyguard that always smiles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One: The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work in progress.

Jensen sighs. “This is not a big deal.”

“This is a very big deal,” Danneel, a coworker, insists as she leans back in his chair. Which is behind his desk. And meant for him.

Meanwhile, he’s resting against a nearby filing cabinet that’s older than he is, and suddenly the top drawer pops open. He frowns, sighs again, and smacks the drawer back into place. He stands up and throws his arms out. “It’s _not_.”

“It _is_ ,” she insists and crosses her arms. He crosses his, too, but she seems meaner about it. “I’m calling Jeff.”

He moves to block the way around his desk and complains, “No, you’re not.” Then he pathetically drops his arms to his sides as she grabs his desk phone. “And yet now you’re calling him.”

“Jeff, we need you down in Jensen’s office.” Danneel pauses and eyes Jensen as she gravely states, “We have a Code 17.”

Jensen leans against the file cabinet then tosses his hand out and covers his face when the drawer slips open again. Once she’s off the phone, he rolls his eyes. “You know the man’s name is Jeffrey.”

She smiles as she stands then nudges the drawer shut. “Maybe for you.”

“You shouldn’t be fraternizing with the enemy.”

“He’s in Internal Observations. They are not the enemy”

“Near enough.”

They can’t argue more on it because Jeff _rey_ is now sitting behind Jensen’s desk and his fingers are flying across the keyboard. Jeffrey Morgan and his department are like the nicer version of Internal Affairs, if there were a way for them to be nice. They have about the same kind of reputation around this place as IA does in most police stations.

Danneel, however, is leaning in close to Jeffrey, murmuring and pointing out the emails she’d read from over Jensen’s shoulder less than thirty minutes ago.

Jensen sighs. “It’s not like I didn’t have my own work to do today.”

Jeffrey and Danneel each glance up, but don’t reply then focus back on the monitor. Soon enough, Jensen takes to tapping his nails at the top of the metal filing cabinet and he’s secretly celebrating when Jeff and Danneel look at him once more. Yet, again, they go back to searching his laptop and it’s entirely too ridiculous.

“So, you’ve observed internal … things,” he finishes with a flourish of his hand. “We’re good now, right?”

It’s a longer look that Jeff dishes him, and quite a bit unkind.

“Look, it’s not a big deal, alright?” Jensen offers, trying to sound calm. “I traced 4chan users and now they’re all over my ass. It’s just retaliation.”

“Jensen, they have your civil email,” Danneel points out.

And okay, yeah, so he followed a thread of flagged internet bloggers for the last four weeks and then his personal account was flooded with inane spammers and a handful of potentially legitimate threats. If he could really believe that much on the internet was legitimate these days, he’d actually be worried.

He’s spent the last fifteen years working for the government with the Internet Ops division, and he’s learned a thing or two about identifying credible offenses. It seems as though ninety-eight percent of what passes his desk is wrapped up in bitter, over-educated kids who know too much about coding and like to laugh when web sites fall down.

It’s highly likely this is what they’re all staring at.

“Still, it’s not that big of a deal. Right, Jeff?” Jensen tries kindly to get out of the situation.

“This is a big deal,” the man replies, firm and terse. He stands from Jensen’s chair and straightens his suite coat. “And it’s Jeffrey.”

Jensen watches him go then rolls his eyes when he finds Danneel grinning at the now-empty doorway. “So what’s next?”

“You should probably start calling him Jeffrey.”

He makes a face. “I always did. I was just trying to be nice … And I mean with the emails.”

Danneel shrugs. “Wait it out for IO to do their thing.”

“Oh, that’s rich. By the time Internal Observations is done _observing_ , I’ll probably be dead.”

She eyes him for a long moment then crosses her arms with attitude. “I thought it wasn’t a big deal?”

He does the same, trying to hide how she’s totally trapped him. “It isn’t. And it was just an exaggeration.”

“Mmhmm.”

Jensen nudges her out of the way so he can sit back down at his desk and eloquently insist, “Shut up. I have work to do.”

“You go get yourself some hennoi.”

“It’s _hentai_ ,” he corrects then cringes when she laughs at him.

*

It’s at 7:44 the next morning that Jensen finds out that _what’s next_ is a six-foot-five body builder in a monkey suit.

Jensen is standing in front of his office with his backpack over one arm and a piping hot styrofoam cup of coffee in the other. Yet he can’t enter because said money-suited wrestler is taking up the entirety of the doorway to his office, legs shoulder-width apart and arms folded neatly at his back.

“Can I help you?” Jensen asks.

The man politely smiles and it’s really unfair that Jensen is thinking it’s a nice look on him. “Jensen Ackles?”

“No, but can I pass along a message?” If he’s learned anything in his career, it’s to be suspicious. 

“You can tell yourself that I’m new your bodyguard.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your new bodyguard.”

Jensen takes him in from head to toe and he really is a giant. “I didn’t have an old one.”

The man motions between them. “Jensen Ackles. Agent Jared Padalecki.”

Jensen eyes him. “Why’d you ask if you knew it was me?”

“Polite gesture and all.”

“Can you politely gesture yourself out of my way?” When the man does nothing more than offer a kind smile, Jensen tips his head back and sighs then rolls his shoulders. “Okay, look, agent, you can-”

“Padalecki.”

“What?”

“Agent Padalecki.”

“You’re serious?”

Padalecki curtly nods. “We take everything seriously.”

“Of course you do,” Jensen allows tiredly. “Alright, look. You’re an agent, and you’ve got a job to do. I get that. But I do, too, so if you could just sashay outta my doorway, that’d be great.”

“Of course, sir,” Padalecki says. He shuffles a few feet, turns the doorknob, and pushes the door open for Jensen.

Jensen purposely enters his office with as much room between him and the agent as possible. In the twelve hours since he’d last been at work, he’s convinced himself that the threats are no condition to worry about, probably just a few kids on summer vacation filling the days. Coming face to face with a _bodyguard_ is not how he wants to acknowledge the situation.

Once Jensen sits, he looks up and harps, “What are you doing?”

Padalecki is standing just inside the office with his hands clutched in front and watching Jensen. “Pardon, sir?”

“Are you really going to stand here all day?”

“Yes, sir,” he smiles.

“All day?”

“Yes, sir.”

“While I work, you’re just gonna … stand there?”

Jared nods and kindly smiles once more. “As long as you’re here, I will be, too.”

“Christ, no,” Jensen mutters and jumps up from his desk. He marches into the hallway and yells, “Danneel!” Once her head pops out of her office, he insists, “Get your boyfriend to get this monster off my doorstep.” When he turns to point at the offending person, Jensen yelps because the agent is actually standing right behind Jensen with that same serene look on his face. “You can _not_ do that.”

“Do what?”

“Just, sneak up on me.”

“It is my responsibility to not be obvious.”

Jensen heads back to his office, laughing bitterly. “You’re eight feet tall. How is that not obvious?”

“I make it work.”

“I’ll bet,” Jensen mumbles, trying not to acknowledge how the agent smirks at him.

*

Jensen huffs. “I do not need a chaperone!”

“The Service insists on-”

“Making my life miserable.” Jensen shoves his shoulder into the door leading to the parking lot and walks quick and with purpose to hopefully lose Padalecki.

Unfortunately, the man’s long legs allow him keep up. “The Service insists on you having an escort at all times.”

When he reaches his car, Jensen closes his eyes and tries to keep from acting out. He’s an adult; he can handle an adult conversation. He slowly turns to face Padalecki. “At all times?”

“Yes, sir.”

Jensen wants to correct him, hates hearing _sir_ , but he refuses to give in on the first day. “Even when I’m at home?” As Padalecki starts another _yes, sir_ , Jensen shuts his eyes and puts his hand out to stop him. “No sir. Just … don’t with sirs. That’s all you say … _all_ day long.” 

Padalecki glances away while licking his lips then turns back to Jensen with a smirk. “So long as I’m on assignment, you’re not to leave my sight. Even at home,” he adds when Jensen tries to interrupt. “ _Especially_ there. I need to check the house and then I will stay out of the way. It’ll be like I’m not even there.”

Jensen assesses Jared for about the tenth time today, and he’s very certain it’s impossible to not know that Jared is there. “And if I say no?” 

Jared smirks and gives Jensen a look that says he thinks Jensen is an adorable eight-year-old who keeps asking _Why?_ “I am not the only Secret Service Agent aware of your case.”

Jensen feels his stomach drop. “They’re at my house right now, aren’t they?”

“Yes, si--Jensen.”

Groaning, Jensen gets into his car. There is no way he wants to be on a first-name basis with Agent King Kong.

*

The next morning is worse than the one before. Mostly because when he wakes up, all he bothers to do is put his glasses on and head into the kitchen for coffee and had altogether forgotten about Agent Padalecki until he jumps out of his skin when he sees the man at his kitchen table.

Padalecki serenely smiles at him then silently sips his coffee.

“That is not even fair,” Jensen grumbles. Especially since he’d fallen asleep with Padalecki out in his unmarked car. This morning, the agent is dressed neatly and clean shaven, hair side-parted and slicked back. There are no signs that he slept in his car all night.

It all seems strange, and he brings it up to Danneel once he’s at work and they’re both at the coffee maker. 

“I mean, where does he shower?” Jensen looks over his shoulder to affirm that Padalecki is far enough away, standing near the garbage can and innocently glancing around. “Did he use my neighbor’s bathroom? My lawn hose? Is he some kind of robot that just resets itself at sunrise?”

Danneel narrows her eyes at Jensen. “Are you aware of what you’re saying?”

Jensen nods. “And what do you think?”

“That you’re highly deranged and need to retake the psych evaluation.”

He frowns, but it’s worse when she leaves and Padalecki smiles at him, crossing his hands together at his waist and somehow looking casually formal. “The Service has access to your guest house.”

Jensen decides to ignore the horror of being heard and thinks over all that he knows of surveillance and how deep it can go without tripping off a target. “There are cameras, aren’t there?”

Jared nods politely, face still smooth and friendly.

He wants to yell and throw shit and punch anything, but all he has is Padalecki in front of him. “You are incredibly invasive, you know that?”

*

Jensen didn’t know how just invasive the situation would be until a few evenings later when he’s at the dining room table with a case file spread out on the surface and he’s hunched over his laptop conducting further research.

The floor creaks behind him and Jensen is certain he does not _squeak_ or clutch his chest when he spins his seat to find Padalecki leaning down to glance at his laptop. He is really freaking tired of this happening.

“What is that macro doing?” the agent asks.

Jensen closes the laptop enough so Jared can’t keep snooping. “It’s confidential,” Jensen insists, holding his head high.

Padalecki rights himself and is obvious with how he sets his hands on his hips so that his holstered weapon stands out. 

Jensen resolutely does not gulp. He may hold his breath for a second or two then turn back to the laptop, though. “At the very least it’s really uninteresting for you, I’m sure.”

The agent rounds the table and smoothly slides into the chair across from Jensen. It’s now too obvious to note how tanned Padalecki is, that he’s removed his standard jacket, and now has the sleeves of his white oxford shirt rolled up to his elbows. That might be the worst part because now Jensen can’t stop watching how the skin, veins, and muscles roll as Padalecki folds his hands over one another quite casually. “Who says I would find it uninteresting?”

Jensen feels bad for the assumption, but still says, “I just don’t see internet coding to be among your interests.”

Padalecki tightly smiles and two dimples appear. Once again, Jensen is cursing this entire situation. He grants himself a second to consider that if he met this guy in a bar, he’d happily smile right back. But no, Agent Padalecki is in Jensen’s life because someone is threatening it. And that is never a pleasant reminder.

On that thought, Jensen asks, “So how are you doing catching my stalker?”

“Mmm, yeah,” Padalecki replies with a tight smile but incredibly bright eyes. “I’m afraid that is beyond your interests.”

“I think it’s incredibly relevant to my interests.” After a calming breath, Jensen sets his arms on the table and tries to be affable. “Someone has threatened me bodily harm and thus you are my living shadow. I like my home. I enjoy my quiet, lonely life. Therefore, you being here is incredibly disruptive. I think I am owed an update on the situation.”

Padalecki shifts in his seat and presses his palms to the glass. “Is there a reason you are so difficult to the situation?”

“I’m pretty difficult in any situation,” Jensen smarts back. He only regrets it a little. 

“Would it matter if I told you there were no threats or a dozen more?”

“There are a dozen?” Jensen asks quickly. 

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Oh, _you!_ ” Jensen exclaims as he jumps out of his chair and swiftly walks to the kitchen. He grabs a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet below and to the right, and pours himself a short glass, all the while ranting. “You’re worse than the White House with this kind of shit. Not at liberty to say if my life is in more danger than it was before? You’re a real treat with that kind of attitude.” He bitterly laughs and downs the double shot with difficulty, having to wipe his mouth and chin. 

Padalecki leans on the island between them and awkwardly frowns. It’s the first time he doesn’t seem polished and capable of handling whatever Jensen has to throw at him. “It is for your benefit that you continue on with your life as uninterrupted as possible, no matter what. And as far as being in danger, like it or not, I would harbor a guess that it’s less with me as your shadow.”

Jensen doesn’t want to reply, but he rather dislikes that Padalecki has the upper hand at this moment. He lifts his glass up and belatedly remembers he’d already finished the drink, so he angrily drops it into the sink. 

“I know I’m not often welcome, given the reason for my placement. But there has to come a time that you become comfortable with the idea that so long as I’m here, you’re gonna be okay.”

Even though he hates it, he knows the agent is right. He’s not ready to acknowledge it, though, so he stares at his feet and waits until he’s left alone in the kitchen.

He has another few inches of whiskey, but all it does is make him tired and ashamed. And unaware of what he’s doing until he’s taking the stone path from his back door out to the guest house. 

It’s his own place, but he still knocks and waits a few seconds before opening the door. No matter what he knows of the government’s capabilities, it’s a surprise to find the front area half taken up by surveillance footage that shows all the lovely parts to Jensen’s home. 

He gulps, especially when he realizes three monitors are outdoor cameras – two out front and the other in the backyard, where Jensen had just walked.

Nervously, he jokes, “Surprised you let me in, seeing me coming and all.” 

Jared has been standing in front of the couch the entire time, as if he’s on high-alert of Jensen’s presence. He unrolls his shirt sleeves and tugs them down, as if he needs to be professional at eleven at night. 

Jensen waves at the screens. “Do you ever actually rest? Or do you just mainline caffeine all night and watch me sleep?”

“I prefer Red Bull, and it’s actually quite relaxing to watch.”

Oh God, Jared watches him sleep. Jensen quickly catches Jared’s twinkling look and he can’t deny that he’s been a total jackass to Jared since the first moment, that Jared is incredibly friendly and charming and impossible to avoid, and at some point tonight, Jensen had stopped considering this man as an agent and his mind is now supplying his first name. 

Jensen uncomfortably laughs to cover the long silence as he deliberated all of that. “You’re joking.”

Jared nods and smiles. “I am joking. I have relief at night so I can sleep.”

“That’s good, yeah.” He feels foolish to suddenly worry over the state of the guest house, but he does. “The sheets and pillows okay? It’s not like I knew you’d be here.”

He smiles a bit more. “It’s very nice in here.”

“Are there really a dozen new threats?” Jensen asks quickly, because for the last two hours, he couldn’t seem to get that worry out of his head.

Jared’s body goes rigid, like he’s back to professional mode. Or in heavy-duty professional mode, considering he seems to almost always be _on_ to some degree. “I think it’s best for you not to worry about it.”

Jensen fidgets in place. “That feels like a ‘yes, but we’re not gonna talk about it’.”

“Do you really want to talk about it?”

“No, I suppose not,” he admits easily. It’s far too close to the truth. “I’m sorry for giving you a hard time. It’s just … this is new for me, you know?”

“Well, it’s not for me,” Jared offers easily. “You’re in good hands.”

Jensen suddenly can’t stop staring at Jared’s large, tanned, sculpted hands on his trim waist. He snaps his eyes up to Jared’s and nervously smiles. “That’s … that’s good to know. In tough times. I’m in good hands.”

It’s a near-miss, but Jensen is certain that Jared winks at him. “You are.”

“Good to know,” Jensen repeats and nods, certain he’s said enough. He waves and nods again as he leaves, only stalling for a second when he hears Jared murmur _apology accepted_.

*

It isn’t as though everything changes.

In the morning, Jensen is feeling groggy from the alcohol and lack of sleep as he contemplated not only their conversation and his potentially inappropriate comments and looks, but also that Jared may be around for a while. It’s bothersome in that Jensen is almost thankful he doesn’t have to say goodbye to the agent just yet.

It is a bit easier, less tense for them to drive to work together, for Jared to follow him into his office and even for a stop in the kitchen. 

“Morning,” he mumbles to Danneel when she steps up next to him at the coffee machine. 

“Morning, Jensen.” She flashes a smile to Jared in the corner. “Morning, Agent.”

Jensen glances over his shoulder and smiles affably when Jared turns his smile from Danneel to him. But then he frowns when Danneel is critically assessing him. 

She crowds his personal space, then he’s grumbling that he nearly fumbles his coffee all over the counter. “What happened?” she whispers.

“What happened with what?”

Danneel purposely looks at Jared and then watches as Jensen allows himself a quick check in Jared’s direction. “I thought you didn’t like fraternizing with the enemy?” she asks with an evil smirk.

Jensen stumbles around responses like _I’m not_ and _he’s not the enemy_. Instead he just shrugs and goes back to work. It’s not really of her concern. Yet.


	2. Part 2: Go Lean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cereal has been obtained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Work in progress.

“What the …” Jensen mumbles as he stands in his kitchen and holds an upper cabinet door open. His fingers clutch the knob as he stares at a completely empty shelf. His cereal shelf. His formerly _stocked_ cereal shelf.

He tugs the next cabinet open, hopeful that he’s just tired this morning, and perhaps the coffee hasn’t kicked in; he’s only downed two cups so far. But no, that cabinet is just as empty as the one before it.

Running down the line, and even going low, Jensen checks behind every door of his dark walnut kitchen cabinets, and finds every single one cleared out.

“Agent!” he turns and shouts, only to find the six-foot-five bodyguard has snuck up on him and is already in place. Again. “Damnit,” Jensen spits out. “What did I say?”

“Agent,” Jared replies easily. “Then damnit.” After a moment of them staring at one another and Jensen resolutely holding in all want to kick and scream about how unfair his life is to be the target of internet terrorists that have necessitated a stealth bodyguard …

Well, after all that, Jensen sighs and Jared smiles. It’s become their thing.

“Is there a problem?” Jared asks.

“Yes, there is a problem,” Jensen responds slowly. “My cupboards are empty.” Jared makes a noncommittal noise and glances beyond Jensen to see the open cabinets, but otherwise stays quiet. “The problem began when I wanted cereal, as I do every morning, and I found the entire shelf empty. And so I checked the next cabinet. Also empty. And the next, and the next, and so on.”

“Yes, I see that.”

“Can you tell me why my cupboards are empty?”

After a quick pause, Jared smoothly smiles. “Pest control.”

Jensen rolls his eyes and opens his mouth to complain but Jared puts a hand up to silence him.

“We will go grocery shopping later.”

“We?” Jared nods and Jensen furrows his brow. “You and I? We’re going grocery shopping.” Another nod and more furrowing. Two nights ago, Jensen had insisted he needed to run to the store to pick up some odds and ends; all he really wanted was a break from Jared’s shadow, but the agent wouldn’t allow it. “I thought I couldn’t leave the house at night.”

“Without protection? No, you’re not.”

Jensen can appreciate the possibility to get out of the house and breathe some fresh air. Much better than being cooped up in his study and pretending to work all night so Jared gives him space to play Skyrim in relative peace. Aside from all the sword fights and roaring that blare in his headphones.

“We can grab breakfast on the way, if you’re ready.”

He watches Jared straighten his jacket and buttons then motion towards the back door. Aside from his morning cereal, Jensen is ready, but it’s still unnerving that all of his cupboards were emptied overnight and he was never the wiser.

Deciding on yogurt instead, Jensen goes to the fridge and opens the door. Somehow he’s unsurprised to find it, too, empty.

He slowly turns to Jared. “Why is my entire kitchen cleaned out?” he finally asks.

“Hmm?”

Jensen barely stops from rolling his eyes at how earnest and clueless Jared seems right now. “Why do I no longer have any food?”

Jared opens his mouth then closes it before finally saying, “Just standard precaution.”

That tiny flinch is something Jensen’s seen before. When Jared claimed he was simply taking a leisurely stroll through Jensen’s backyard and not concerned with any security threats, or even those first few days when he ignored Jensen’s questions on how many threats were coming through, and especially when he had claimed they weren’t filming Jensen’s bedroom.

 _It’s precautionary to have a view in every space, but you do have some privacy_ , had been Jared’s canned answer … after a short pause and tiny blush across his cheeks while he barely averted his eyes.

That had been embarrassing, to put it mildly. Jensen decided to look at the bright side that it gave him another chance to read Jared’s tell.

However, it doesn’t make him feel any better at this moment.

“Someone poisoned my food?” Jensen shouts.

Jared stands tall and his face and voice are stoic when he replies, “So far that is inconclusive.”

“But you think someone might have?”

“We’re covering our bases.”

Jensen breathes deep to relax himself. It’s been a full week of Jared in his life and he’s not sure when he’s going to get used to it, especially when it means that someone is threatening his kitchen.

Giving in, Jensen grabs his suit jacket from the nearby kitchen chair and tugs it on. “Alright, then we’ll stop for breakfast on the way.”

Jared opens the back door, holds it open for Jensen, and follows each step Jensen takes so that the clicking of their dress shoes are timed together on the stone walkway.

“Is that part of the job?” Jensen asks, tense in the short silence.

“I’m sorry?” Jared asks with a questioning look.

“The walking together. Like to fool someone else into thinking there’s just one of us?”

Jared merely smiles and Jensen’s not sure if he feels better to know that he’s right.

 

*

 

Jensen grimaces at the mushy pasta and alfredo sauce covering his plate. He picks his fork through it, twirling a few fettuccine noodles, and lifting them, all while watching the congealed cream sauce dribble back down to his plate.

“What are you doing here?” Danneel asks as she sets her tray down on the lunch table and slides into the seat across from him.

“Eating. Or not, I guess,” he mumbles as he continues to play with the noodles.

“You never eat in the cafeteria. You always stay in the break room.”

He is mesmerized by the warm, sweet smell that is wafting across the table from her sweet and sour chicken from the stir fry counter. He may even whimper, considering how she looks up at him and searches his face.

“Why are you eating in the cafeteria?” she asks just before tucking a spoonful of rice, plump chicken, and bright peppers into her mouth.

“Apparently my pantry has been labeled as a significant risk.”

She points at his noodles with her fork. “And that isn’t?”

“I know, right?” he sighs and pushes the plate away. “Apparently he trusts the lunch ladies more than my shopping abilities.”

Danneel nods past Jensen’s shoulder, right to where Jensen is aware Jared can be seen sitting two tables away with a sure view of the entire room. “How is it going with 007?”

Jensen rocks back in the plastic chair, taking advantage of the slight give in the curved shape. James Bond would be a much nicer watch than overly cheerful yet tight-lipped Jared. “Man, if only.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about …” She leans to the side and stares. Jensen becomes uncomfortable when she begins sucking on her spoon then dragging it out of her mouth with her tongue tucked tight against it. It’s worse when she softly moans. “From my view, he’s a lot better than Daniel Craig.”

He glances over his shoulder and is startled to find that less than a second later, Jared is looking right at them. Worse yet is the sound of Danneel’s spoon clattering to the table in her nerves of being caught.

She laughs nervously and covers the silverware to keep it from further rattling. “Well, he’s certainly quite attuned to you.”

Jensen shrugs and fiddles with the cap of his water bottle. “It’s creepy.”

“Having a hot guy at the ready to guard you with his _body_?” She snorts and digs back into her sweet and sour chicken. “Oh, yeah, real creepy.”

“He’s always one second out of my personal space. When I actually think I have a moment of quiet, he appears out of nowhere.”

“Like now?”

“What?” A second later, Jared’s hand lands on the back of the chair next to Jensen and he’s leaning down to whisper, but Jensen’s already flinching out of the way. “Would you … for God’s sake!” He huffs and glares at Jared. “Wear a bell or something, man!”

Jared’s lips curl into a tiny smile. “Noted.” Then his voice drops as does the smile. “Need to stop by Internal Observation for a moment.”

Jensen sighs and rights his suit vest and tie as he faces Danneel again. “Okay, fine.”

When he doesn’t move, Jared says, “We.”

“We?” Jensen asks, meeting Jared’s gaze.

“Yes, we.”

Jensen searches Jared’s eyes, nearly daring himself to ask even if he’s afraid of the answer, or that two-second pause Jared always gives. “Why?”

And there it is, the quick stop with his mouth open, closing, then sliding into an easy smile. “Standard security procedures.”

Not bothering to fight it, Jensen slides his chair back, grabs his tray, and nods to Danneel in goodbye.

“Say hi to Jeffrey for me.”

He stops a few feet from the table and tips his head to the side. “Danneel?”

“What?”

“Inappropriate.”

She shrugs easily. “Toma _toh_ , to _mah_ to.”

 

*

 

Two hours and forty-eight minutes later, Jensen learns that standard security procedures is Jared-speak for security breach. According to the entry logs, Jensen was entering the building about the same time he was salivating over Danneel’s lunch in the cafeteria.

He appreciates that the breach was acknowledged within minutes, Jared stepping in immediately. Yet it’s increasingly unnerving to be reminded that someone is screwing with his life.

It’s no better when they get home. Jensen’s walking the stone pathway around to the back of the house and eying the garage the whole way. He hasn’t driven his car since the first day Jared showed up; Jared had insisted on driving them around in his own vehicle.

Right now the garage door is up, but there is no car inside.

Jared must read Jensen’s mind because he doesn’t have to be prompted to explain, “General precautions.”

“Should I even be living in my own house?” Jensen asks, tiredly.

Jared’s lower lip twitches and Jensen sighs, going right inside.

In place of complaining, Jensen locks himself up in his study and slays dragons for hours on end. He’s in the middle of training with the Greybeards, swinging swords and slipping out of striking distance, when the screen goes completely black.

“What the?” he mumbles, voice fuzzy with his large headphones still on. “I already fixed that patch.”

He’s so attuned to the game that he just stares at the screen, waiting for it to come back up. It doesn’t, but Jared’s face does appear before him.

“What?” Jensen complains. “Can I not take an arrow in the leg in peace?” 

Jared says something, at least it seems like he does with his lips moving, but Jensen can’t hear him.

“You what?”

Carefully, Jared plucks the headphones away from Jensen’s head and sets them in the open space next to Jensen on the couch. “Is everything alright?”

“Aside from you ruining my game.”

Jared makes an odd face. “You were yelling. I could hear you in the kitchen.”

Jensen sits up from his slouch in the thick couch cushions and flushes with embarrassment. He lamely gestures to the TV. “It’s just the dragons.”

“What happened to your knee?”

“Nothing,” Jensen replies slowly.

“You said you took an arrow?”

Jensen laughs uncomfortably. “It’s a, just a joke.”

Jared sits down on the coffee table in front of Jensen and bites his lower lip before speaking. “I know you’re upset. About me being here, and the cameras, and the kitchen stuff.”

“And the guy pretending to be me at work,” Jensen tacks on because he doesn’t want this man who’s capable of breaking people in two to forget that. He’d like someone who looks like Jared to hold a grudge.

“And that,” he agrees with a nod. “I know it’s hard to deal with, and it can all make people paranoid. I can tell you don’t like me, or that I’m here. And I know you really don’t want to, but you need to trust that we have your best intentions in mind. I will not let anything happen to you so long as you’re under my watch.”

By the end of the speech, Jensen realizes that Jared’s palm is set nicely, and warmly, to Jensen’s knee. He squeezes gently and Jensen feels his heart kick up.

“I promise,” Jared adds with another surprisingly nice squeeze a thumb-rub to the inside of Jensen’s lower thigh.

“I like you,” Jensen blurts in defense and instantly turns red. He clamps his mouth shut and isn’t comforted in any way when Jared laughs. Even if it is a pleasing, jovial laugh. “I mean, I don’t _not_ like you. And I believe you, that you won’t let me die. Badly.”

It is comforting in an entirely different way when Jared smoothly moves to the side and drops into the couch right beside Jensen. He pulls the TV remote out of his pocket and turns the TV back on. Unfortunately, Jensen’s since died in the black-out, but Jared nudges his elbow and insists he start another game.

“You want to watch me play a video game?” Jensen asks.

“You mean, watch you slay the dragon and save the day? Of course I do.”

Suddenly Jared grins and it’s bright and gorgeous and magical all at once, because it makes Jensen forget why he hates having Jared right in his space. The warmth of his body might do it, too. Or even the fact that when Jensen slowly widens his legs to get comfortable again, Jared presses his thigh right up against Jensen’s.

After a few minutes of quiet, Jensen clears his throat. “We never went grocery shopping.”

“It’s fine,” Jared replies easily.

Jensen accidentally knocks Jared’s arm as he controls his character on screen. Jared doesn’t seem to mind, staying put right along Jensen. “You say that now, but I’ll get cranky without my cereal for all too long.”

Jared chuckles then says, mock serious, “The cereal has been obtained.”

Glancing over, Jensen is surprised to find Jared kindly smiling back at him. He takes a deep breath and turns back to the screen. “How would you know what kind to-”

“Kashi Go Lean Toasted Berry Crumble. I respect your choice in flavors, but I’m rather surprised you feel the need to _go lean_.”

“Well, I,-”

“You’re pretty fit with hardly any effort.”

Jensen can’t ignore how Jared had looked over him as he said it, or how his body is responding to the implications of the tone and once-over. “I run,” he says flatly. “Sometimes. Though not much anymore.”

The corner of Jared’s mouth twitches and his eyes lock into Jensen’s. “I run at five, you should join me.”

“In the morning?”

Jared chuckles. “Yes, in the morning.”

Jensen snorts and goes back to his game. “I’ll have to think about that.”

“You should,” he replies firmly.

“I will,” Jensen says, just the same. And he does. All night. In his big bed. All alone.

Luckily, it doesn’t keep him from rolling out of bed at 4:57 to join Jared.


End file.
